The Kerr Effect is an unusual physical property because it depends on both the molecule's dipole moment and its polarizability tensor. The particular quantity that must be averaged over all conformations is the square of the dipole moment times the polarizability tensor. For rigid rods, this yields a dependence on the third power of the molecular weight; whereas for a random coil its average will depend only on the first power. More common characterization methods would display second or first power dependences. These dependences were recently verified in reported experiments on DNA restriction fragments. Calculations for helix-coil transitions of polypeptides indicate that Kerr Effect measurements would be significantly more sensitive to the early stages of helix formation than are other methods. In addition, the Kerr Effect is extremely sensitive to an individual peptide's conformation. The method should provide useful information about the formation of conformations of anisotropic shape.